Revenge is Mine
by FireOnHigh
Summary: When two lives collide, anything can happen, especially if one life is consumed by a need for vengence. Rated T for language. Please R/R
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** **All of the main characters in this story are of my own creation. Occasionally, you may catch a glimpse of Jace or Clary, but other than that this story will be entirely about the adventures of Loren and Aera. Also, please review my story when you finish reading it even if you do not like it. All criticism is welcome, although I ask that you please refrain from cursing. Thank you!**

It was Midsummer Night's Eve, which meant that it was the night of the Shadowhunter's Ball- basically prom for all of the Shadowhunters who didn't go to school or didn't want to attend their school's dance. And this year, like last year and the year before and even the year before that, Loren Stillwater was without a date.

He pretended he didn't care, acted like it didn't hurt when he watched his friends dance with their dates, but deep down inside, his heart was screaming in pain.

To distract himself, he people-watched from his vantage point at the tables set adjacent to the dance floor. Loren saw Jace Lightwood, star pupil of the New York City conclave, whirl his girlfriend Clarrisa Morgenstern gracefully underneath the disco ball that turned ponderously above their heads, all the while throwing off sparks of light. Not too far from then, Isabelle Lightwood and Simon Lewis were gazing deeply into each others' eyes, turning in a small circle to music only they could hear. That couple represented a strange pairing- a Shadowhunter and a Downworlder, a vamp, to be precise. But the rules about mingling with the Downworlders were relaxed for the dance, especially since the oldest Shadowhunter present was 25. The older adults of their community were supposed to be kept in the dark about the time, location, and even very existence of this event, though Loren suspected that many just chose to turn a blind eye to the proceedings. Casting his gaze around, the young Shadowhunter saw fey, werewolves, and vampires all, not to mention occasional warlock.

In the shadowed corners of the room, his eyes caught sight of movement and he instinctively tense, his right hand reaching for his stele and a dagger that he had hidden deep in his tuxedo's pocket. Almost instantly, though, he relaxed, realizing that it was only the security detail that was guarding the party from outside attacks and also to put a quick stop to any fight that might erupt.

Only those who either had no hope for a date or did not care to dance volunteered for sentry duty. Looking back, Loren regretfully thought that he should have chosen that, rather than embarrass himself by sitting alone at the tables while everyone else danced.

"Still dateless?" demanded a well-muscled man with disheveled dark brown hair as he collapsed, breathless, in the chair across from Loren, his forehead damp with sweat.

But Loren was not listening- his attention had been captured by one of the security personnel. She looked to be somewhere between 16 and 20, close enough for his own age for him to be instantly interested. Her hair was a strange combination of night black and bright silver and was pulled back in a tight braid that reached to her thighs. Loren's eyes immediately went to her face, or at least what he could see of it through the shadows where she was standing. Her features were razor angles sharp, from her curving eyebrows that swept upward like wings above slanted eyes too bright of a cobalt blue to look natural, at least on a human. Her figure was lean, but not so thin as to be without feminine curves; she was also very tall. The intense black of her gear complimented the pale tone of her skin- instead of making her look washed out or sickly, she seemed to almost glow. Except where she was covered up with bold runes, that is, which almost looked to devour the exposed skin of her arms, chest, and even neck.

"That's Aera Starfall," the man, Loren's best friend, Kavan Nightwine, said when he saw who his younger companion was gazing at so intently. At 25 years old, Kavan was the oldest of the Shadowhunters to be in attendance of the dance.

"I've never seen her before," Loren murmured in reply.

Kavan gave a half shrug and shook his head. "She likes to keep to herself, because she can't talk and she doesn't want to struggle with communicating with others. Plus, she spends the weekends and about half of her weekdays with her mother's remaining family in the Virginia countryside."

Loren was surprised; he had never heard of a Shadowhunter with a disability like that. "Can't she get her voice fixed…"

"It's not broken, dude," his friend interrupted. "She chose to lose it."

"Chose?" Loren echoed questioningly.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I said. Aera's parents were Shadowhunters and her older sister had was in training, when they were attacked at their home by something. No one knows what it was- only Aera saw what happened and survived. Her mom, dad, older sister, and younger twin brothers were killed." Kavan winced slightly, his eyes gazing off into the distance and filled with memories. "They were slaughtered, brutally torn apart and mutilated."

When Kavan paused, Loren put in breathlessly, "And Aera?"

"She was injured, very severely. She hung between life and death for days, and when she finally awoke, she couldn't talk. Using signs and writing down her experience on paper, she told us that she had taken a vow of silence until she could get revenge for the death of her family," Kavan finished gravely, looking the most solemn that Loren had ever seen him.

"Aera looks like a faery," Loren said after a long pause.

"My parents said that she has faery blood in her family- her siblings all looked fey-touched too, as did her father. Her mother, though, I've seen pictures of her. She had classic Scandinavian looks. Pale blonde hair, intense blue eyes, the whole lot."

As if she could hear them talking about her, Aera Starfall moved from the shadows toward the young men. It was only then that Loren saw the twin swords, curved from hilt to tip that rested on her back, and the daggers she had strapped to her forearms.

She met Loren's brown eyes with her feverish blue ones, then vanished back into the shadows as quickly as she had appeared. "Wow," Loren finally managed.

"Wow, indeed," Kavan replied, unable to keep the undercurrent of amusement that he felt out of his words. "You would make a good couple- if you can ever get close enough to talk to her." With a laugh, Kavan patted Loren on the back and stood in one smooth motion, moving back onto the dance floor as he wrapped his arm around the thin waist of his date.

Loren sighed. Kavan had made Aera sound as if she was too good for him, almost as if his friend had been daring him to go over to the young woman. So he stood, catching Kavan's eye as he motioned over to the corner that Aera had been standing in with a serendipitous motion of one hand. A pleased smile and a nod of encouragement from Kavan was what Loren got in reply; it was enough to bolster his confidence and give him the final push he need. With slightly trembling knees, he quickly strode to where he had last seen her standing, ready to take a chance at rejection for the first time in his life.


	2. Chapter 2

Aera Starfall glided among the shadows, her eyes wide open and scanning for any sign of trouble, when she felt a tingle slide down her spine. It wasn't a warning sensation at all; instead, it seemed to be trying to make her look in a certain direction. So she turned in a single, fluid motion, her right hand automatically going to the leather and wire-wrapped hilt of the corresponding shoto.

He was tall and lanky, somewhat handsome and clearly athletic, as most Shadowhunters are. His shoulder length hair, a strangely metallic brown and auburn, was sloppily pulled back into a simple ponytail that he had tied with a short length of black cord. His intense brown-eyed gaze held hers for a moment, before she let herself fade back into the shadows.

She would have growled is she had a voice; she instead settled for a quick shake of her head as she pressed her back to the wall. With all of her not-inconsiderable strength she furiously punched the concrete, then formed her hand into a fist in front of her eyes. The split skin and leaking blood were a marked contrast to the bright off-silver of her family ring, which was decorated with a delicate pattern of Celtic knots.

The pain was a welcomed respite from the numbness that normally consumed her like the nighttime consumes the day. It was the only feeling that she allowed herself to experience except for anger- cold, unadulterated fury that she had been unable to prevent the slaughter of her family. The need for revenge was what permitted her to drag herself from her bed every morning, and kept her on her feet whenever a scent or image triggered a flood of memories that threatened to drag her to her knees.

For a brief second, she let herself sag against the wall, safely concealed in shadow, hidden away from questioning glances and pitying stares. As she pushed herself upright, squared her shoulders, and placed a totally blank expression over her features, Aera felt someone approaching.

It was the young man who had been staring so intently at her earlier. He had a cautiously hopeful expression on his face as he said," Hey…Aera, right?"

When she nodded, careful to keep an expressionless mast on her face, he smiled and held out one hand. "My name is Loren Stillwater." Aera accepted the handshake, only to be shocked when the young man- Loren- pulled her calloused hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles, which she was grateful she had wiped on her hand to get rid of the blood. A pre-existing _iratze _that she had traced on her arm before being her shift as a guard had taken care of the damage to her skin.

Then he caught sight of her scars- bands of silvery, thickened skin that criss-crossed her body everywhere- even visible under the tight-fitting material of her Gear. Loren had a horrified expression of his handsome features, but Aera was so used to that reaction that she barely even registered the look on his face. His wide eyes- a rather pleasant light brown flecked with green, she noted- finally settled on the two scars that marred her face from the hinge of her jaw to the point of her chin and across her left cheekbone, connecting to the corner of her mouth and creating the illusion that Aera was smiling slightly. The wide, angry marks might have been caused by claws, he finally concluded.

Holding up both hands, palms out, Aera signed, _Do you want something?_ as slowly and deliberately as she could, though she figured that Loren would not know American Sign Language.

Loren noted that she was missing half of her pinkie finger on her right hand and the first knuckle of her index finger on the same hand before signing back, _Yes, I do._

Aera's lips twitched in a ghost of a smile, the closest she had come to actually expressing pleasure in the years since her family's murder. _You know ASL._

Loren grinned in reply and answered verbally, "My dad was born deaf, so I had to learn."

_Is he a Shadowhunter?_ inquired the young woman with quick gestures of her slim-fingered hands.

"No, but my mother is."

_I see._ Aera cast a quick look around and the blank expression once again settled on her fierce, aquiline features. _I need to get back to my duty. What was it that you needed?_

The grin faded from Loren's face and he suddenly appeared nervous. "I-I was w-wondering, w-would you like to go out w-with m-me? Like f-for coffee or something?" he managed to say, in spite of the nervous stutter suddenly marring his words.

She quickly ran the request through her mind, studying the pros and cons with as much dispassion as she could muster. She did not know Loren, did not know his family or his background or even if he had a girlfriend or lover in another town, but her instinct told her to accept his offer. After all, she was not promising him anything other than a single meeting.

_Sure_, she signed quickly, before she could change her mind. _Where and when?_

Loren was surprised. Clearly, he had not expected her to accept. "Um, how about Taki's, Tuesday night at about nine?"

_See you there._ Aera attempted a smile, but quickly abandoned her effort and faded back into the shadows that seemed all too ready to consume her once more.

She watched Loren walk back to his seat at the table, and cursed herself for letting his kindness penetrated her cold armour, even if only for an instant. A short, broad-shouldered figure, one that Aera knew by name, though they had never actually spoken, joined Loren as soon as he was seated. Kavan was his name- Kavan Nightwine, one of the Shadowhunters who had been present when she had waken from the coma. He had been 18 at the time and she 10. Again, she cursed herself from becoming involved with someone, even if it was only to have coffee with him. But she resigned herself to the fact that she had to go out with him, even for only one time, and decided to make the best of the situation she found herself in. Hell, maybe she would even make her first friend since her parents and siblings died. Maybe Loren would turn out to be the person who would help her track down the thing had killed her family.

**A/N: I'm working on getting the next chapter up soon. Any and all reviews are welcome- tell me what you think of Loren and Aera, their maybe-relationship, how my writing is, etc. Thank you for reading my little story!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Pass code, please."

"What?" Loren asked in a distracted tone, bringing his gaze back to the red-skinned ifrit casually leaning up against the cinder-block wall in front of him. "Sorry, my mind was elsewhere."

"I said, what is the password, Nephilim." Now the ifrit looked a lot less casual as he corrected his posture and reached threateningly into the pocket of his trench coat.

"Oh, that." He quickly ran his mind through what it might be. Loren had never actually been to Taki's before, but he knew that it was a popular hang-out for the more rebellious of the Shadowhunter youths. "I swear by the Angel that I mean no harm to anyone who is in the restaurant."

The ifrit shrugged, suddenly indifferent again. "Not it, but since you swore on the Angel, I guess that it counts. Go on in, but don't cause any trouble."

"I don't plan on causing trouble. I'm just here to meet a friend," he explained. "Plus, I heard that the food here is excellent, as is the service."

A smile crossed the half-demon's features. "You got that right."

And without further ceremony, Loren was inside the building. His eyes locked onto the myriad of booths and tables that littered the cozy space, sitting at odd angles. There was no clear path to the cash register, but that did not seem to put off the varied assortment of customers who were scattered across the room. He caught sight of several faeries, resplendent in rich clothes that made the patrons nearest to them look like homeless bums. Their other-worldly beauty was a distinct contrast to the cruel nature that Loren knew they possessed.

Across the room from the faeries sat several werewolves, shifted somewhere between their human and wolf form. They had elongated teeth and claw-like fingernails; their eyes glinted with strange light.

At the booth behind them, sat two pale figures with features that crossed over the border from perfect to inhuman. "Vampires," he murmured.

Someone tapped him on his shoulder, and he jumped into the air, whirling as he went. One hand formed into a fist, even as he recognized the ifrit who had let him into the restaurant.

"I thought you promised not to get into trouble," he said with an almost-smirk on his strangely attractive face.

"Me, too." Loren then saw who was standing silently and as still as a winter night behind the ifrit- Aera. "Ah, there you are."

The ifrit laid his hand on Aera's arm in a very personal gesture. "You'll be fine here with this ruffian?"

"I'm not a…" he began angrily, until he saw the humor in the red-skinned demon's eyes.

_I will be fine, Clancy,_ Aera signed. _Loren is my friend._

"As long as you are sure," Clancy sighed, and then pointed a long, thin, multi-jointed finger in Loren's general direction. "I'll be watching you." With that thinly veiled threat, the ifrit walked away, glancing back every few steps to glare at Loren.

"How…" Loren began, but was cut off by a gesture from Aera.

_Do I know him? I have spent a lot of my days wiling away the hours at Taki's._

"Where do you sit?"

Aera tilted her head to the right, toward a mismatched set of small, round bar height tables and stools. _Right over there, though I am always by myself._

Loren and Aera had scarcely seated themselves before a handsome waiter, a vampire by his intensely handsome looks and deathly pale skin, handed them menus. Aera shook her head and signed, _We don't need them. We know what we want to order._ The vampire inclined his head slightly and pulled a pencil and pad of paper out of his apron. _I will have a caramel mocha iced coffee._

"What size?" the waiter asked in a pleasant voice.

_Grande, please._

"And you, sir?"

"Just a plain coffee, please, with a double shot of espresso."

When the vampire finished writing Loren's order down, he asked, "Anything else?"

_No thank you, Jeremy,_ Aera signed.

"You know him, too?" Loren demanded as the waiter strode away, his eyes wide and incredulous, the green highlights shining with shock.

_Of course I do. Jer works here almost every day. We talk casually sometimes._ Aera had a surprisingly flippant, almost careless look on her features, until she took a closer look at Loren. _Oh, I see. You're one of _those_ Shadowhunters who doesn't like to associate with the Downworlders._ A look of slight disgust slid across her face and she moved as if to stand up. _I think I've learned all about you that I care to know._

"Wait, Aera! Wait!" he cried, jumping out of his seat and grabbing her by one arm. "That's not what I meant at all! I just wanted to know how they all knew sign language!"

The whole restaurant was silent- every single customer, waiter, and even random passersby on the sidewalk outside was staring at the couple. Loren could feel the weight of their eyes, especially those of Clancy the ifrit, as he strode toward them, hot anger burning in every movement.

"Aera, love, do you need help?" Clancy asked softly, one hand slipped inside his overcoat.

She paused for a long moment, staring down at Loren's hand on her arm. _No, Clancy. I do not think that I do._ Her movement deliberate, she pulled away from him. _Thank you for checking on me, my friend._

Misery clear in his voice, Loren apologized softly. "I wasn't meaning to offend you. I was just curious."

"Last warning, Shadowhunter," the ifrit spat, making the word sound like a curse. "Next time you cause trouble, I'm gonna kick you out and never let you back in here ever again."

"Sorry, sorry."

"I would hope so. Your elders would be disappointed with your actions."

_They'd also be disappointed that he is at Taki's, consorting with Downworlders,_ Aera added.

"Touché, girl," Clancy laughed, then instantly turned serious when he met Loren's eyes. "You. Will. Die. If you hurt my friend."

_No need to threaten him. I think he got the point._

"As long as you are sure." He undid the clasps on his coat and pulled it slightly away from his body, flashing the bright metal of a knife at Loren. "Don't forget what I said, boy." Then the ifrit swaggered away, back to his post at the door.

"Can we start over?" Loren asked. "Please?"

_Sure. Whatever you'd like to do._ Aera sat back down and gestured for Loren to do the same. _What did you want to meet with me about?_

"I kinda…well, you know…I thought…" he stammered. "We…"

_ You wanted to take me out on a date_, she guessed. Her suspicions were confirmed when Loren blushed from the roots of his auburn hair to his cheekbones.

"Yeah, I do," he replied simply, refusing to make eye contact.

_I lost my sparring companion today. She is going to the Dublin Institute with her fiancé to get married, and I need a replacement. Do you know anyone who would be interested?_ Aera leaned toward him slightly, her eyes amused.

"Um, I guess I would like to be your partner."

_Really? I guess I would like that. Do you want to meet at the Jersey Institute tomorrow morning at, say, five in the morning?_

Loren seemed to light up from within. "Sure! I'd love to. Does this mean that you, well, you know…"

_That I like you? _He nodded. _We'll have to see how things go tomorrow._

They fell into silence as Jeremy brought them their coffee. "Anything else, Aera?"

_ No thank you, Jer._

"Don't forget to pay at the counter."

"I'll take care of it!" Loren announced. "My treat."

_Fine by me. _Aera shrugged and her features seemed to smooth out, all emotions erased, until he felt like he was staring at a blank wall. She no longer looked playful or annoyed or happy, just empty. _Is that all you wanted?_

"Do you have to leave?" he heard his voice go up slightly, and knew he sounded disappointed, but couldn't stop himself. He just had a date with a beautiful, though distant and cold as the stars in the sky, Shadowhunter, and was going to spar with her the next day.

_I don't have to do anything._ Her signing had also gone strangely flat, her hands lending no extra movements to the words she gestured.

"Hey, did I say anything wrong?"

_No, no. You didn't do anything. Nothing at all._

"Please tell me what's wrong, Aera."

She squared her slim shoulders and straightened her back. _We are not that close yet. Maybe someday I will tell you what happened to my family- all of the intimate details, not just the abbreviated version that Kavan gave you. You would not be able to understand what I am going through._

"But I could try. I could ease some of the burden that you are carrying," Loren insisted.

_No. You really can't. The only thing that can heal my wounds is revenge. _Her gestures were so final, the pain in her over-bright fae-blue eyes so powerful, that he felt his heart give a sympathetic squeeze.

"Will revenge really give you closure? Will it make you forget what happened, put your life back together?"

_Nothing can do that. My family won't come back from the dead, but killing the thing that murdered them will give me closure, and that is all I want._ Aera gave him the tiniest fraction of a smile. _Maybe you can help me get through this._

"I'd love to. I'll listen when you want to talk, I'll come over any time you want me to. Please let someone close to you…" Just Loren thought he was getting close to a breaking through her icy shell, his cellphone rang. "I need to take this, okay?"

She dipped her head in a quick nod. _Go ahead._

He stood and ran toward the door. "Hello?"

"Loren Alistair Stillwater," blared a woman's angry voice directly into his ear. He pulled the speaker almost a foot away from his head, and could still hear her voice as clear as day.

"Mom! How's it going?"

"Shut up and get home NOW," she yelled. "You have something to explain to me!"

"Uh, Mom, I'm hanging out with Aera, like I told you I was going to do. I'm actually on a date, so…"

"No excuses! Get your ass home, pronto!" With a click, she disconnected the line, leaving Loren standing on the sidewalk in a daze.

He stood there for nearly a minute before he realized that Aera has followed him outside.

"I have to go," he finally told her, his voice distant. "My mom needs me at home."

She nodded, her braid bouncing on her back. _See you tomorrow morning._

"I'm sorry about this. I'll make it up to you sometime, promise."

Aera gestured down the street. _No, it's okay. I'm not mad- just go._ Loren caught sight of a shining band of off-silver metal around her middle finger. He caught that hand and gave it a quick squeeze, much to her obvious surprise.

"Later!" he shouted back at her as she ran down the cracked sidewalk, his Converse pounding a rough drumbeat that echoed the pounding of his heart. Far down the street, he caught sight of the yellow of one of New York City's ubiquitous taxi cabs, and he raced toward it, yelling, "Wait! TAXI!"

When he was halfway home, his phone rang again and looking at the screen, Loren saw that it was his mother, again. "I'm on my way!" he snapped before she could say anything. "I grabbed a taxi…"

"You need to hurry. I need you home now."

"It's not my fault that the traffic is terrible…"

His mother interrupted him loudly. "No excuses, boy!"

"Hey, lady!" the cabby yelled suddenly, his garbled words strong and proud, turning in his seat and grabbing the cell phone out of Loren's hand. "I kin hear ye yellin' from the driver's seat. Give the lad a break- I'm drivin' 'im home as fast as I can." With that, he hung up and gave his passenger a triumphant thumbs up. "Yer welcome!"

"Yeah, thanks." He was very startled at the cabby's outburst, and was even more surprised when the older man made eye contact with him in the rearview mirror.

"Listen, kid. It isn't easy bein' a parent, especially when yer children are scattered all over kingdom come. Don't take what she's sayin' too hard, 'kay?"

Loren gave a weak smile. "Okay. I'll try."

The cabby winked conspiratorially. "It prob'bly don't help, either, that yer a Shadowhunter."

"Wha…How did you know?" the younger man demanded, his hand automatically flying to the folding knife in his pant's pocket.

"Not gonna lie to ye, lad. I got me a touch o' the sight. I've always been able to see what others are blinded to." He gave a stiff chuckle, then tossed Loren back his phone. "Hope ye ain't gonna stab me with that blade ye got back there."

"Just take me home. I don't want my mother any madder at me then she already is."

"Well, yer in luck, kid. I gotta special shortcut right through here." With a violent twist of the steering wheel, the old cabby cut through two lanes of oncoming traffic and down a strangely barren road.

"Are we seriously driving through Ellis Park right now? Isn't this totally illegal?"

He laughed again at Loren's questions. "Illegal, shilligal. What the coppers don't know won't hurt 'em, will it, lad?"

They rode in awkward silence the rest of the way home, and when Loren caught sight of his family's orange-painted front door, he leaped from the cab before the old man had brought it to a stop, tossing a fifty dollar bill into his lap and yelling, "Keep the change!"

Even as he reaches for the brass door knob, it was wrenched out of his grasp in a violent motion. "Get in the house!" his mother roared, grabbing him by one arm and physically pulling him off of their porch. As the door was slammed shut behind him, Loren caught sight of the cabby giving him a sad smile and accelerating down the street.

Lynne Stillwater looked as if she had aged five years in the hours since Loren had left home- her brown eyes, normally sparkling with laughter had dulled. The smirk she normally wore on her lips was replaced by a grim, harried frown. Tiny wrinkles had appeared at the corners of her mouth and eyes that he was sure had not been there earlier.. She latched one strong hand on his forearm and dragged him into the living room. "About time you got here."

"Mom, what's wrong? Why are you acting…"

It was then that he saw his father tied to his recliner with what looked like thick vines. Behind Gary Anderson stood three old, wrinkled women, one of whom was holding a knife to his throat. "Scream, boy, and he dies."

**A/N: A sort of cliffhanger! Please read and review- I need feedback so I can know what I'm doing right, what I need to change, ecetera. Thank you for your continued support.**


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